SllA6 



Glass 
Book 




_^nM 




Alaska Salmon 

And Their 

Practical 
Propagation 




By 

A. J. Sprague 

Supt. Territorial Hatcheries 

of Alaska el. ) 



CjUiTvil 



MARCH, 1921 



ALASKA DAILY EMPIRE PRINT 

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—8R»«V Of CUNliKb*. 






JUN 301925. 



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Page One 



THE ALASKA SALMON 

And Their 

PRACTICAL PROPAGATION 

By 
A. J. SPRAGUE 

Superintenednt Territorial Hatcheries 
of Alaska. 



MARCH, 1921. 



I am writing this little book, dear reader, 
tor the benefit of the Alaska fishermen, for 
we are all interested, from the big cannery- 
men to the little gunny sack fishermen of the 
spawning streams. I want a little heart to 
heart talk' with all the thousands of Alaska 
fishermen. 

We all live in Alaska and desire to con- 
tinue our residence here. The fish business 
is the largest industry in Alaska, and we, as 
fishermen, must see that it is taken care of 
and that the industry is not destroyed 
through greed or lack of intelligent pres- 
ervation and propagation. This is no one 
man's job. Everyone must do his part, and 

fthat means all of us. 
We all know there is something wrong 
when we have spasmodic runs of salmon in 
different districts of our inland waters. On 
off years we always pat ourselves on the 
back and say, "Oh yes, next year is the big 
cycle year." And when the fish do not come, 
we explain it away in one breath by mak- 
ing a goat of the bear, seagulls, fish ducks, 
all species of trout and other fish eating 
all the salmon eggs or to storms or lower 
water stream conditions. It would be good 
policy for us to be honest with ourselves. 
We all know that for centuries nature has 



provided for all of this loss, and she has 
fixed, immutable and iron laws. For, to start 
with, she has never given the power to 
anyone species to destroy without placing a 
limit to that destruction. (Frankly I don't 
believe that there are any more seagulls 
today than there were twenty years ago.) When 
any living creatures become too plentiful, 
nature has her own way to destroy and an- 
nihilate them. Just leave it to her. She will 
establish that balance or equilibrium neces- 
sary. Her iron laws hold, from the minutest 
form of life to man, himself. 

Now. just a word about the ti-out's de- 
vouring all the salmon eggs. Possibly it has 

INLAND PASSAGE SCENE 




■CANNERY AT BIG PORT WALTER. 
BARANOFF ISLAND 

"never occurred to one person in a hundred 
that the young salmon, during his stay in fresh 
water, before going to his future home in 
the seas, eat the eggs and young of the trout 
during their spawning season. 

For nature intended this to be so, in 
order that the trout may not get too plen- 
tiful. On the other hand she has given to 
one female salmon three thousand eggs. 
Why? So that a few may reach maturity, 
and the balance feed her other creatures. 
Comes now, Mr. Selfishman, and upsets 



Page Three 

and destroys, all of this balance. He would 
take all, and put nothing back. Now make 
no mistake in this matter, tor nature does 
not intend to stand for any of that kind of 
stuff. We are only fooling ourselves. It is 
like the farmer that takes the crops off his 
lajid and in turn has to fertilise it, and put 
in another one. And Mr. Fisherman, that is 
just what we have got to do with the sea. 
We have got to put something back, and at 
least allow a certain per cent, of a yearly 
run of salmon up to their spawning grounds 
to seed the beds for the future generation. 
If we don't we may just as well grab our 
blankets and say, "To the Pioner's Home at 
Sitka for us," or, "Where do we go from 
here." We can't get in on the Siberian 
fisheries, for the Japs and Reds have beat 
us to it. They got there first, and anyhow, 
just at the present time, we don't know 
who to make arrangements with yet. 

Now let's call a spade a spade in this 
fish business. All of you fellows know how 
to get the fish, by all the clever devices set 
by the ingenuity of man, from the modern 
floating trap to the gunny sack fisherman of 
the streams, and why not, all of us help a 
little bit on the propagation end of this busi- 
ness? Honest now, don't get sore, and lose 
two weeks' sleep because a few salmon got 
by your nets and racks during the night of 
high water, and escaped up stream to seed 
their spawning beds for the future preserva- 
tion of the species. Let's take a look into 
the propagation end of this most important 
fish question. 

ARTIFICIAL RETAINING POND FOR 

YOUNG SALMON A FAILURE. 
Now what about the Pond retaining, rear- 
ing, system for the salmon which of late we 
have heard and read so much? Take it from 
me, you can't do it and get results. I paid 
the price and it came high. Let me tell you 
that experience is the best and only certain 
teacher. I built and operated the Trask and 
Klamath Falls Hatcheries for the State of 
Oregon in 1909 and 1913, and as Superin- 
tendent launched the Pond rearing system 
March llth of that year. (See Tillamook 
Headlight). Now listen, I built some dandy 
little ponds good enough to swim in. They 
now have the same kind, at dear old Bonne- 



Page Four 



ville Hatchery on the Columbia River, Ore- 
gon, where they claim to raise millions of 
y ting salmon, taken from eggs shipped from 
Alaska. They are kept in these small grave 
like ponds for a period of two years, and 
then distributed at the cost of about one 
dollar per fish, four' inches long. If they 
ever should return, are they coming back] 
to those same ponds when matured for' 
spawning? Now I don't believe this, neither! 
does the poor fish. 

In retaining ponds for young salmon it 
is always customary to put a screen in the 
lcwer end of the pond in order to keep the! 
young salmon in and trout and other enemies 
out Now when the instinct of the salmon 
asserts itself, he wants and must have his! 
freedom to go to his future home, the sea. 
And if you compel him to remain in this 
pond he becomes stunted in growth, and 
development and, of course, dies. 

Take for example, one hundred thousand! 
salmon to be held in a pond for a period [ 
of two years in order to protect them until) 
they were good sized fish before being lib- 
erated. The following results will take 
place: (1) Because of the lack of natural 
microscopic food, found in all tundra water, 
and that cannot be artificially reproduced, all 
artificial pond fish go bad sooner or later, 
usually about the third month. (2) All sal- 
mon pass from fresh to salt water by an 
instinct of nature. They never have con- 
sulted any human being as to that time, for 
they have their own fixed schedule, rain or 
shine, high or low water. (3) And if they 
cannot go at their own specified time of 
the year, they either die, because you have 
them penned up against their better instinct, if 
or you have stunted their development andf 
growth for all time to come; and, worse 
still, by continuous confinment and unnatural 
food, freedom, and environment, you have in- 
terfered also with the reproductive organs, 
and liberated barren fish. The result is 
thousands of immatured salmon all along 
the Pacific and inland waters, wanderers in 
their native element, with no instinct for 
return to the parent stream to fulfill their 
mission in life, then spawn and die. (4) 
Besides having domesticated them, you have 
robbed them of the vital instinct of self 



Page Five 

preservation. (5) With one hundred thou- 
sand young salmon liberated in any pond the 
loss before the end of the second year 
will be eighty per cent, caused by fungas 
and parasitic gill disease, and cannibalism, 
the feeding off of their other weaker brothers 
by the thousands. Meanwhile, ducks and other 
water fowl will collect their toll. We must 
not overlook the fact that it is impossible 
to furnish their miscrosopic, insect food 
found in the tundra swamps and waters that 
are natural breeding places of the Humpy, 
Coho. and Chum Salmon. The best artificial 

1 food that we can obtain is raw liver, almost 
prohibitive in cost, limited in quantity, and 
at best a poor substitute. At the present 
lowest market price, it will cost a dollar and 
eight and a half cents each to hold and feed 

\ what salmon are left out of this hundred 

I thousand lot. for a period of two' years, in- 
cluding, of course, the cost of maintaining, 
building and general upkeep of these ponds. 
We can certainly pity these fish, when 
turned loose into the watery elements in 
which there is no mercy, having been hand = 

petted and domesticated, knowing no 
fear. They eat out of your hand and fol- 
low you around the pond, when the dinner 
bell rings. Now, the question that we may 

= well ask ourselves is, "What becomes of this 
wreck we have turned loose?" They are less 
than four inches in length, derelicts with 
everything their enemies, from the two- 
legged man on down the line. They never 
come back to spawn, they will never come 
back into this pond, where they were reared. 
And it can make no difference in what man- 
ner you mark, tag or mutilate their fins, 
we can expect no reurn. All marks are 
dangerous for young fish. 



gi 



EXPERIMENTS 



The following experiment was carried out 
in September 1917. Two hundred thousand 
fertilized Red Salmon eggs and 80,000 Humpy 
eggs were planted in the sand and gravel 
a depth of 12 to 14 inches in a tributary 
spring stream leading from a small pond 
|on the South side of Chilkoot Lake. It con- 
jj tained no fish whatever, being obstructed a 
short distance above its outlet into the 
lake. I found in this body of water no 



Page Six 

familiar t'ungas spores so much in evidence 
in natural salmon spawning streams that 
contain thousands of spawning salmon, and it 
was barren of fish life. Upon closer obser- 
vation it was found to be a natural pond or 
stream, with the water distributed from 
heavy seepage. Fearing the lack of proper 
fcod for the young fish after hatching, owing 
to the lateness of the season, when bugs, 
flies, gnats and various crustaceous food is 
not available, I buried in the sand also a 
short distance from the eggs, to prevent any 




WATERFALLS 



t'ungas growth spreading to the buried eggs, 



the bodies of the parent fish, for their future 
food supply. (The bodies of the sockeye fish 
stripped of their eggs.) 

A large percentage of these eggs hatched, 
but if they had been held to the eyed stage, 
or say within 4 or 5 days of hatching, the 
result would have been at least ninety per 
cent, because later experiments proved this. 
We must bear in mind that salmon eggs 
brought to this stage of development have 
not had time to breed the vegetable mold, 
commonly called t'ungas. This fungas causes 






~::z 



Page Seven 

loss under artificial propagation but not 
among the alevins or fry in natural condi- 
tions. Also, it must be understood, salmon 
eggs, buried deep in the sand, are not at- 
tracted by fungas growth, but when you 
consider the length of time that the eggs 
must be buried in the sand, 45 to 90 days 
under natural spawning, it is reasonable to 
understand that thousands are destroyed by 
fungas. But if the eggs are within three 
or four days of hatching they are safe from 
fungas or suffocation, piling, or bunching. 
I carried on these experiments largely at 
my own expense for two years, and was now 
broke. This Chilkoot experiment was car- 
ried out with the assistance of Mr. F. O. 
Burckhardt, of the Alaska Pacific Fisheries, 
who paid for and furnished his cannery ten- 
der, the "Chilkoot," with men, nets, native 
guides, etc. I had asked for assistance from 
all the cannerymen of Alaska on June 1, 
1918, but few responded 

Now what has been the results of this 
experiment? Mr. M. J. O'Connor, Mr. Henry I 
Roden. Mr. Martin Madsen and natives near 
Haines reported, that on the 20th of August, 
1920, thousands of Humpys were seen in the 
Bay and Chilkoot Lake. I do not mean to 
say this is positive proof, but Humpys were 
seen and this is not a Humpy district. 
I am getting more information on this point. 
It means much to us here in Alaska. First, 
it explodes the theory that the Humpys re- 
turn in two years and back into the parent 
stream where they hatched This was the 
three-year cycle, and it must certainly apply 
to this particular district at least — (Note) 
To my mind, it speaks the whole history 
of the sea on the question of the return 
of salmon into the parent stream. Why 
should salmon pass by hundreds of clear 
water ideal spawning streams, to enter that 
one particular stream with apparently no 
advantage over any other stream? It must 
establish the homing instinct. 

The time is now ripe for me to say that 
I have studied salmon propagation and 
spawning conditions in Alaska streams, and 
what has been accomplished along practical 
lines in the experiment of stocking, for the 
first time, barren lakes — devoid of fish life 
because of impassible fall? of water at the 



Page Eight 

outlet, 50 to 60 feet high. Such bodies of 
water are alive, however, with natural fish 
food, where it has accumulated for years in 
vast storage basins making excellent feeding 
grounds for young salmon. Thus it is made 
ideal for the propagation of a continuous 
food supply for the young salmon that are 
placed therein; and, as soon as one specie 
of salmon eggs are hatched, and in course of 
their alloted time pass to sea, the lake con- 
tinues to be a self producing food reservoir 
for the next plant of hatching salmon eggs. 
Compare for a moment this condition and 

that of other barren lakes with the two 

1 
by four gravelike and unnatural retaining 

ponds at the various hatcheries, with their 
unnatural environments, lack of shade, rock, 
snags, and rmelter, with costly construction 
and draining system and expensive main- 
tenance. 

WARM SPRINGS LAKE ON BARANOF 

ISLAND,. ALASKA. OR BARANOF 

LAKE IN WARM SPRINGS BAY. 

The area 698 acres, available spawning 
grounds, inlet streams and tributaries of 
ten and a half miles, capable of holding and 
feeding, without any cost whatsoever, one 
half of the entire output of young salmon 
(up to the age of their passing to their 
future home in the salt water) of the annual 
pack of Alaska. Plants were made in this 
lake, October 23, 1919, to February 13, 
1920. In all, 2,690,000 eyed Humpy and Coho 
eggs buried in the sand and gravel of this 
lake. In November 1919 this lake took on its 
usual winter coat of ice. (This afforded more 
protection to the eggs and hatched fry 
planted therein, as no water fowl, of any 
description could eat or destroy them, and 
there were no fish in the lake to devour 
them.) 

Let us understand this experiment. Had 
these eggs been fertilized, and then planted, 
without being eyed, or been what is com- 
monly known to fish culurist as green eggs, 
the loss would have been heavy. As before 
stated the eggs would have accumulated 
largely in bunches, suffocating them, also, 
exposing them to the cottony vegetable fun- 
gas growth, as there would have been a 
period or from ninety to one hundred days, 






^c^mgmmiin:: V' "_~_" '."■ -Zl-.-.~ ~ r ^--- / ~'^zJ=^^5^}i~=5Si 



Page Nine 

before the hatching stage of the eggs would 
be reached. Observations on July 6, 1920, 
from this plant of eggs were made. There 
was located, and seen throughout the lake 
and its tundra and tributary inlet streams, 
in schools of thousands, young salmon of 
an average length of three and one half 
inches, in vigorous and healthy condition, 
and not like the hand reared, domesticated 
fish, robbed of the instinct of self preserve 
tibn. One can realize that the cost of 
maintaining and feeding these fish up to 
this size and growth without the assistance 
of a natural feeding ground, provided for by 
nature, would have entailed an enormous 
outlay of money. Following out this exper- 
ment. we found that these young salmon 
had passed to sea. the following September, 




HUNTERS RETURN 

1920. That is to say the Humpy Salmon had, 
while the Coho migrated to their future salt 
water home in October. Owing to the dif- 
ferent ages of eggs planted, from October,. 
1919, to February, 1920, a few remained in. " 
the lake, and are still there, while those 
that passed to sea, of the earlier lot, some 
were found in the salt water, very safe and 
sound. They had gone o^er the fifty-foot 
falls without injury. Be it understood that 
these falls have prevented any and all fish 
from entering this body of water. T]^at prob- 
ably is the only reason for its being a barren 
lake. It is not in any sense a mineralized 
body of water, and is fed by glacier, spring 
and tundra water. However, if it had been 
mineralized it would not prevent spawning 
or breeding salmon from entering. 



Page Ten 

It has been my observation that we have 
many heavily mineralized short coast streams 
in Southeastern Alaska which salmon use as 
spawning streams in large numbers, as for 
example, Duck Creek and Knudson Creek 
near Juneau. By burying the eyed eggs of 
salmon in the sand or gravel the inherited 
instinct and the vital impetus is potential 
in causing the salmon to return to those 
same streams or lakes to spawn. 

In the life study of the salmon, we have 
to go to nature, in singleness of heart, and 
work with her, having no other thought but 
how to best discover her meaning, rejecting 
and scorning nothing. She long ages ago 
discovered that the best way to make any 
I race of men, animals or fish strong, and 
hardy, was not to shield them from their 
enemies, but to give them power of resist- 
ance against their enemies. 

ADULT SALMON AND THE NATURAL 
PROPAGATION. 

These observations cover a period of 
years from 1907 to the present time. 

Young salmon passing from fresh to salt 
water, their future home in the sea, natur- 

I ally make for the warmer Japan Current, 
wherein they find an immense and rich feed 

a ing ground. Here is found the floating red 
shrimp crustacean food, shifted by the tides 
into immense shoals, acres in extent, 
giving to the water a reddish appearance. 
During the winter months thousands of 
schools of shiners, herring and the young 
of other fishes are their food. It is true 
they pass beyond human observation to a |g 
large extent, but we have found them not 
so many hundred miles away from the 
parent stream where they were hatched. We 
"have with us any month of the year certain 
species of matured salmon. They swarm i| 
back to or near the Coast line. When 
matured, salmon mill around for days and 
weeks, adapting themselves for the change 
from salt to fresh water, at the mouth of 
the parent stream, selecting their mates, and 
pairing off while in the brackish water. They = 
are weather prophets. You can always tell 
by watching the movement of salmon if 
heavy rains are due, for by instinct they 
jump and contort for the rains they know 



Page Eleven 



will flood the streams, assisting them to 
reach the upriver spawning grounds, over 
the otherwise shallow tributaries and sand 
bars. It is, indeed, a struggle for the later 
run of spawning salmon, in the low tem- 
peratural glacial water tributary streams, 
and their remaining strength is yet to be 
matched by ice obstructions. In the North- 
ern seas, beaten by storms, chilled by ice 
drifts, tormented by furious contending tides, 
a horde of seagulls mutilating their bodies. 



picking out their eyes. Beasts, and fowl, 
driven with hunger attack them and they 
match their skill to evade them. With a 

1 body rich in oil and fat, nature has truly 
prepared the salmon for his mission in life. | 
With a wonderful vitality, he hesitates at 
no barrier, to accomplish his mission at 
spawning, and to permit his dead body to be- 
come food for the young after hatching. 
Observations on salmon movements through- 
out our inland waters will show us that the 
scarcer herring are the smaller are our 
salmon runs. This is one of the main foods 
for salmon, halibut, and other fish. We la 
know, of course, that thousands of dead 
salmon are washed to sea at flood time of 
streams, after they are through spawning 
and are covered with sand and gravel. If 
when salmon spawn in streams entering 
lakes the decayed bodies of the parent fish 
are washed into the lake. Nature intends 
they shall help to produce and increase the 
natural food supply, along with the organic 
laden sediment carried therein, where it re- 
mains until an over surplus is produced. 
This year we had low water conditions at 
all the field stations in this district. I have 
noticed that the first run of salmon spawned 
in the lower reaches of streams because they 
could not reach spawning grounds higher up. 
The first run of fish spawned here, and the 
next run used the same beds, gouging and 
digging up the eggs of the first spawned 
fish. It would look like a very wasteful pro- 
cess at best on Nature's part. 

My next observation was on Admiralty 
Island, at Sprague Creek, where a rack 125 
feet in length was in operation to prevent 

rj the salmon trout going up stream with the 
spawning salmon to feed upon their eggs. 
Four pairs of salmon entered a small side 






stream in which the water was very low 
and splashed and dug with tails and fins 
about all night, and when the nest was 
completed it looked like a fair size shaft 
about three feet wide and 18 or 20 inches 
deep, during this process Mr. and Mrs. 
Salmon seemed very insistent that the nest 
be just so deep and at this spot. I did not 
get the reason just then, but after they had 
spawned and had the nest covered with 
gravel, this part of the stream went dry, M 
The eggs of salmon have a marked power 
of apparently suspending life in the moist 
sand and resuming activities again, when 
sufficient water arrived. They had evidently 
by instinct foreseen this before hand, and 
sure enough, a heavy rain, enough to float 
a boat over the spawning bed came a few | 
days after the parent fish had died. In the 
last struggle of life, both fish had run under \ 



an underhanging bank, and later both bodies 




THE FISHING FLEET 

=liwere partly covered with sand and coarse 
| gravel from the recent flood effect of the 
; stream. The one nest that was under my 
^investigation had about 800 eggs therein, 
.•and I would say one half were dead on the 
' 10th clay, as up to this time I had not dis- 
turbed them. Before they had reached the 
"'eyed" stage 200 more were dead, caused 
probably by nonffertilizaton. I say they died 
because of non-fertilization because there was 
no fungus growth at that depth of gravel, 
even on spawning streams that are crowded 
with fish. I have noticed that the male is 
kept so very busy fighting off trout or other 
enemies, preventing them from eating the 
eggs, that he is not always on the spot to 
fertilize the eggs, and hundreds are washed 



')• 






Page Thirteen 



down stream by the current and are not. 
fertilized, but serve as food for other fish. 
One of the most persistent andly dead ene- 
mies is the fish known as molly grub, Eng- 
lish and Irish lords, bull-heads and by other- 
local names. 

Never under natural conditions can you 
find young salmon in what is known as the 
"food sac stage" in the stream. For he is 
buried in the sand and gravel, and he has 
the inherited power to work up and out of it § 
after the sac is absorbed, even though the 
bed may be two feet deep in the gravel. 
Nature provides wonderful vitality for the 
fry, and he knows by instinct that every- [p 
thing, fish, fowl, and man, is his enemy. 
Upon the first shadow upon the water like 1 
a flash he has gone under rocks and snags. | 
How different from the pond raised fish that 
feed out of your hand and do not know fear. 
No spawning nest seems to have the full 
amount of eggs of the female, and yet 
there seems to be only one nest. I do not, 
of course, understand this part of it. This 
year's observation discloses during our oper- J£ 
Ration in taking Humpy Salmon eggs an over 
surplus of seven to eleven spawning males 
to' one female. This species uses largely the 
short tundra coast stream and brackish | 
estuaries for spawning purposes. 

The young fry when hatched first feed 
on the decayed body of the parent fish, 
which by this time has gone through a pro- 
cess of purification in the sand, Nature's 
own laboratory. The flesh disintergrates into 
small white cornmeal particles. By a wise 
I precaution of Nature this food is available 
|;during the late fall or early spring months 
when flies, bugs, and the larva of insect 
life are not to be found. By an instinct 
or scent they find this food. Now, while 
salmon trout are found in salmon spawning 
I. streams eating salmon eggs, don't forget 
I that young salmon are in turn feeding on 
the spawn and young of the salmon trout 
for both are brought to the same stream for 
the same purpose of reproduction. Thus 
nature holds an equalibrium on all forms 
of life. The big fish live off the little ones. 
There is no mercy in the watery elements 
It is true that there is an over abundance 
of salmon trout in some of our streams. But 



w 






Page Fourteen 



Nature intends that one should live off the 
other and her law of balance has been upset 
by man until the trout hold the upper hand 
of the salmon in some streams. Young sal- 
mon feed very vigorously on the small eggs 
and young of the salmon trout, until the 
change from fresh to salt water. Trout of 
no species do not feed heavily during their 
spawning period, and the young salmon, which 
feed heavily on their eggs at this time, will 
be seen on their spawning beds. 

Young salmon also have a decided habit 
of schooling with salmon trout, but this 




Where Trout Abound 

apparent friendship lasts only until the 
salmon completely surround the bunch, and 
eat them all. 

Some interesting facts have been brought 
to light on such streams as have been 
racked and screened to prevent the ascent 
of salmon trout with the spawning salmon. 
Salmon trout are found in salmon streams 
only during the spawning season. I mean by 
this that they are by no means numerous, 
although many of the smaller size fish may 
be found. Where there are no salmon trout 
there are no salmon, for under natural con- 
ditions you find one with the other. It is 
Nature's way of distributing and balancing 
the food proposition in the watery domain. 

I will also state that the larger Dolly 



Varden or salmon trout of the short coast 
streams go to salt water for the winter, but 
where large lakes are found on the larger 
streams, they remain in the deep water 
lakes, for that period. By the means of 
racking streams a census of the number of 
spawning salmon and the species therein 
entering was procured. 

Much confusion is due to the marking 
or tagging of salmon, as no two hatcheries 
have the same marks. Salmon have been 
caught in salt and fresh water, mutilated by 
eels, eagles, seagulls, seals and a host of 
their numerous enemies, detroying and con- 
fusing the marks of identification. 

"MODERN PROPAGATION." 

At the hatchery of the United States 
Bureau of Fisheries at Yes Bay, Alaska, in 
1907 and 1908, where 50 million Sockeye 
salmon eggs were taken, and liberated in the 
food sac stage, in the inlet stream of Yes 
Lake, was where I first got the "inside 
hunch" of the failure and breakdown of all 
our salmon hatcheries. The slaughter of 
these helpless young salmon was appauling. 
It is the truth for me to say that if all tho 
host of trout, bullheads, Irish or English 
lords, or whatever you may call this specii 

I of worthless fish, and if all the water fowl 
had been notified by wireless, "to come and 
get them," they could not have arrived any 
sooner. For by the wonderful instinct or 
scent given by them by Nature, they all got 
this prepared banquet. It was some feed, 

I to beleve me. I never saw such a contented 
bunch of trout, fish, and birds in all my life, 
They really appeared to be friendly towards 
all of us. It was a revelation to them, and 
also to me. At the present writing it is a 
wonderful trout stream, but the salmon are 
gone. We had been feeding the trout too 
heavily, increasing their numbers and an- 
niliating the salmon. 

I was now thoroughly satisfied that our 
hatchery system was out of order, and de- 
cided to back up a little and see if I could 
discover a better system, one more like 
Nature's teaching. I could make no change 
while in the service of the Bureau of Fish 
eries so I left Alaska, and through Mr. 
Henry O'Mally and Mr. Harry McAllister, 



Page Sixteen 



the latter a very good friend, who was the 
Master Fish Warden of Oregon, I secured 
the position as Superintendent of the Trask 
River Hatchery near Tillamook, Ore., in 1909. 
I now started on the pond rearing system, 
and secured a first class lesson from 
Nature. I first found that the ponds were so 
costly to build, they would not justify the 
geat expense involved and began to look 
for more natural methods. I next took a 
part of a lot of 90,000 Coho salmon an I 
eyed them in the hatchery. A portion of 
this same lot I buried in the sand of the 
stream supplying water for the hatchery. I 
now let Nature take care of them the bal- 
ance of the winter. In about three months 
those eggs had hatched, and the fry came 
down to the water supply reservoir and into 
the hatchery. The natural fish on an aver- 
age were four times as large as those of 
the same age which had been held and fed 
in the hatchery. About this same time, I 
wrote an article for the Tillamook Head- 
light, under date of March 11, 1909, in which 
I placed our salmon hatcheries, under the 
present method of operation, under fire, and 
advocated the natural retaining pond sys- 
I tern. That finished me with the Oregon 
State Fish Commission. It was a little bit 
too early for them to learn the truth. How- 
ever, I got in good again in less than two 
years, and was sent to Klamath Falls, Ore- 
gon, in 1912 and 1913. As Superintendent 
I organized the Klamath Falls Sportsmens' 
Club, and erected a hatchery on Spencer 
Creek, a tributary stream of Klamath River. 
Here some natural salmon retaining ponds 
were provided in the natural tributary bed 
cf Spencer Creek. In 1913, I introduced in 
Southern Oregon, the Colorado Brook Trout. 
About this time, another political fight was 1 
on between Mr. Clanton and Mr. Finley, as 
to who would have jurisdiction over salmon 
or trout streams in Oregon. Politics and 
salmon don't mix well, so in 1914 my work 
on natural pond popagation for salmon was 
destroyed through Mr. Clanton. 

Political appointments to any position in 
the fisheries service should be condemned, 
because they are political appointments, and 1 
not because of any inherent objections to the I 
man appointed for no matter how great his 



Page Seventeen 






talents or how evident his fitness for the 
work assigned, the knowledge that his ap- 
pointment is due to political influence rather 
than to recognition of merit, will clog his 
efforts and weaken his ambition, and the con- 
stant feeling of insecurity connected with 
public office will chill his ardor and ambi- 
tion. And this will always remain so long 
as we live under our present form of Gov- 
ernment subject to frequent elections, spas- 
modic reforms, and lifting into office of 
many men whose only claim to considera- 
tion is the fact that they had more of a 
political pull than the other fellow. Eminent 
talents are rarely known and seldom sought 
for because the term of office is short, or 
uncertain, and the encouragement lacking 
and which makes merit and fitness for 
service take second place to influence and 
patronage. 

So back I came to Alaska, still determined 
to solve, if possible, this salmon question. Of 
one thing I was determined that politics would 
not queer me again. I wtos going to i^se my own. 
money this time, and trust to luck, to get 
over the rocks and reefs heretofore encount- 
ered. In Juneau I met Mr. B. L. Thane, of 
the Alaska Gastineau Mining Company, and I 
agreed to stock with trout, barren lakes, 
including the Salmon Creek drain and upper 
and Lower Annex lakes. In consideration 
for this work he was to furnish and equip 
a hatchery at Thane, Alaska. By so doing I 
could demonstrate beyond a doubt what 
could be accomplished with trout in barren 
waters, and also with our salmon in Alaska. 
The first trout hatchery in Alaska was estab 
lished at Thane, Alaska, on January 31, 1917, 
and the first Colorado brook trout fry were 
planted in Salmon Creek Dam June 11, 1917. 
On June 1, 1917, the upper and lower Annex 
lakes were stocked. 

"The Salvelinus Fontinalis," dear reader, 
means only a little "brook trout" and fisher- 
men who know fish and their habits, never 
have the honor of baptizing or naming any o\ 
our favorite fly fishing trout. It is always 
some scientist, who is giving some scientfic 
name utterly inappropriate to all of them, as 1 
for example: Now this brook trout had no 
idea, that he had ever fallen heir to this | 

wonderful Latin name. It is that way with 

1 



all our fish, I never knew a scientist who 
could catch a poor fish anyhow, unless he 
was in a tub. 

On May 24, 1917, the Alaska Fish and 
Game Club was organized, with Mr. Charles 
Goldstein as President, Mr. Charles E. David- 
son, Vice-President, Mr. Charles D. Garfield, 
Secretary and Treasurer, Mr. A. T. Spatz 
and John Troy who at all times ready to 
give us publicity and to assist in the fish 
industry, and myself as Superintendent of 
field and hatchery operations. The first three 
officers were Alaskans of long residence in 
the Territory, enthusiastic sportsmen and 
well informed upon the game and fish condi- 
tions in general. A drive was made for mem- 
bership which resulted in over three hundred 
of the business and professional men of the 
Territory becoming interested. 




The members of the Alaska Fish and 
Game Club and those interested in the 
preservation of wild life from a scientific or 
esthetic motives are fortunate when the 
ends they desire are supported by strong 
economic and commercial reasons. 

Mr Thane donated to the Club the hatch- 
ery equipment and it was set up in a 
building provided by Messrs. Oaro and 
Hooker at a nominal rental, on Front Street 
in Juneau. The Alaska Electric & Power 
Co. and the Juneau Water Co. provided 
light and water service without charge. 



When the object and work of the Club 
became known there was a demand from 
all over the Territory for trout fry for stock- 
ing barren and depleted waters. Another 
supply of eastern brook trout eggs was 
obtained and the resulting fry planted in the 
following waters: Lemon, Lund, Granite, 
Knudson, Duck, Grindstone, Sheep and 
Tread well creeks around Juneau; Upper and 
Lower Dewey, Black and Icy lakes near 
Skagway; Fleming Lakes on Chichagof Island 
and Hesse Creek near Cordova. A small 
allotment of public funds was made by Gov. 
J. F. A. Strong to assist in the expense of dis- 
tribution. While this trout propagation was 
going on some experimental work was being 
performed in salmon culture. 

It soon became apparent that there was | 
a greater need for salmon experimental and 
research work than any other so the Club 
directed its Superintendent to drop all trout 
investigations and give his entire attention 
to the salmon. The expense involved in this | 
work exhausted the funds of the Club. Some | 
of the salmon canners who were members of 
the Club suggested that if an appeal was 1 
made to those engaged in the industry the 
packers would supply the necessary funds 
to cany on. In June, 1918, a letter setting 
forth what had been accomplished, the de- 
mands of the future, plans for investigations, 1 
and requesting contributions of $200 from 
each cannery and $50 from salteries and 
mild-cure plants making a total fund of 
$22,500 was mailed to all interested parties. 1 
In response to this appeal the following 
donations were received: 

Acknowledgement is hereby made of the 
assistance and service rendered by Mr. O. F. 
Burckhardt, Alaska Pacific Fisheries and | 
the denotation offered by Henry Fortmann, 
Alaska Packers Association, June, 1918. 

Alaska Packers Association $ 500. 1 

P. E. Harris & Co 200 

Thlinket Packing Co 200 

Tenakee Fisheries Co 200. I 



Total $1,100. 1 

This amount being insufficient for the I 
purpose intended, it was refunded to the 
payers. 




Previous to this a bill was prepared by 
the Club and its passage secured in the Leg- 
islative session of 1917. This bill provided 
for a commission and carried an appropria- 
tion of $80,000. Owing to some technicali- 
ties in its passage the law was illegal and 
inoperative. 

Undaunted the Club struggled along with 
the work using all its funds, getting an 
allotment of a few dollars from the Terri- 
tory, the Superintendent and its active mem- 
bers servng without compensation until the 
legislative session of 1919, when a law was 
enacted along the lines of the 1917 bill. 

Under this law the present Territorial 
Fish Commission assumed charge of the 
operations inaugurated by the Club upon 
June 10, 1919. The hatchery plant and equip- 
ment belonging to the Club valued at $1,500 
was turned over to the Commission for 
$275, an amount sufficient to settle the in- 
debtedness of that organization. 

The Club was broke but it had accom- 
plished a great service to the Territory 
and the salmon industry. 

The control of the Alaska fisheries is in 
the Federal Government. The Territorial 
Commission can only assist by carrying on 
experimental and research operations, im- 
prove natural spawning facilities and re- 
stock depleted waters with young salmon. 
These functions are extremely valuable but 
must be continued until such time as full 
authority and control is vested in the 
Territory. 

The work performed by the Commission 
is stated in its reports which are interesting 
and instructive and should be read by all 
engaged in the industry and those who have 
the affairs of the Territory at heart. 

As for example if we had a number of 
Field Stations on salmon streams equipped 
with troughs to handle the eggs up to the 
eyed stage only with this artificial assist- 
ance and the planting of the eyed eggs in 
barren lakes and streams, which in time- 
would be cleared largely of their natural 
enemies, we could restock and take care of 
all salmon streams within an area of say 30 
miles and would in one stroke do away with 
the expensive feeding and pond retaining 
system. 



Page Twenty-One 



Successful propagation artificially to the 
eyed stage is therefore the starting point, 
the object being the natural development 
to the free swimming stage of the resulting 
fry with practically the same degree of 
success as a natural hatch. 

In the experiments conducted at Bar- 
anof Lake, Chilkoot Lake and various 
streams in Alaska, apparent success has 
been achieved in the natural processes re-1 
sorted to beyond the artificial eyed stage. 
By planting eyed eggs in the gravelly 
beds of these waters, a hatch, estimated to 
be equal in quantity to the eggs deposited, 
was obtained. In Baranof Lake the fry 
grew to fingerling size in a few months 
and migrated to sea early in the Fall. Any 
maturing salmon from this brood will be 
prevented from returning to the Lake by 
the natural barrier between the lake and 
sea. This will be unfortunate for this 
phase of the experiment for the parent 
water theory is no doubt correct. Observa- 
tions will be made at the pool below the 
falls of the outlet stream to ascertain if a 
greater number of fish appear there than 
heretofore, when their period for spawning 
arrives. 

Eyed humpback salmon eggs planted in 
a small tributary stream of Chilkoot Lake 
produced a return of mature fish in three 
years. None of this variety had even been 
seen in these waters before. 

We have a handicap of weather condi- 
tions as related to depositing of eyed eggs 
in the sand of some species of salmon. But, 
much in our favor of barren lakes, un- i 
r _ polluted stream and vast migration and 
power projects has not deprived our sal- 



mon of hundreds of miles of available | 
spawning streams in comparison v/ith the 
Pacific States. 

In summing up the evidence before us 
we have the following distinctive features: 

1. The conditions which existed before 
the packing industry started when the 
natural equilibrium was maintained. 

2. Demands upon the natural supply by 
that industry. 

3. The loss in natural supply occas- 
ioned by the increased depredations of the 



predatory enemies of salmon through its 
various stages of life. 

4. Loss in natural supply through ill 
advised and improper hatchery operations, 
unknown until just recently. 

5. Failure of all methods, in practice, 
to augment or maintain the depleted supply 

6. Lack of reliable information relat 
ing to important characteristics and habits 
of the salmon. (Results of natural propa- 
gation and the census of streams.) 

What knowledge we have regarding 
these features leads to much speculation and 
debate. Many ideas, theories and beliefs 
predicated upon personal opinions and ob- 
servations are extant. None of these have 
proven dependable, on the other hand they 
are often visionary and misleading. 

In relation to the 5th feature, it has 
been practically demonstrated that ninety- 
fice per cent of the eggs properly handled 
can be brought to the eyed stage, whereas 
it has been the observation and experience 
of the writer extending through many 
years, (that not over five per cent of the 
eggs of the adult female salmon spawned 
naturally ever reach that condition.) The 
causes for this are touched upon elsewhere. 

(a) Saving one-half of the cost of plant, 
equipment and operating expenses. 

(b) Eliminating the entire cost of re- 
taining ponds and feeding of the fry. 

(c) Preventing the loss of fry in per- 
mitting them to obtain natural food in their 
own way. (And abolishing confinement, 
which tends toward rendering the species 
barren.) 

(d) Providing for the retention of the 
natural instinct of self preservation (and 
liberty of migration.) 

These and attending requirements point 
toward a successful campaign for the build- 
ing up and maintaining of our salmon sup- 
ply. Add to this a curtailment of catch 
consistent with the visible supply and a 
reasonable hope may be held that the de- 
sired end may be accomplished. 

In order to obtain properly matured 
parent fish for the eyeing operations it will 
be necessary to rack the most prolific 
streams carrying the desired varieties. (This 
will afford protection to those fish which 



Page Twenty-Three 



■ 






will be permitted to spawn naturally), an 
opportunity for the invaluable stream cen- 
sus and way for destroying the voracious 
salmon trout. Observations at our racks 
during the last two years have shown a 
remarkable predominence of (male over 
female fish or the humpback variety.) In 
some streams the proportion has been as 
much as ten to one. 

Referring to the 6th feature it is true 
that considerable labratory and field re- 
search work has been accomplished but | 
we are still groping in the dark as to 
the most salient features and the progress 1 
has been so slow it is feared that the 
salmon will be destroyed from a commercial 
standpoint, before the important facts can 
be ascertained. 

The passenger pigeon was ruthlessly 
and wantonly destroyed, the buffalo merci- 
lessly hunted to extinction for their hides 
at one dollar each, the great forests of the 
Pacific slope have been unwittingly exposed 
to axe and fire until their complete de- 
structions is in sight, certain varieties of 
salmon in the waters of the Pacific States 
and in British Columbia have been greatly 
depelted through strenuous over fishing and 
now the Alaska salmon is facing its inevit- 
able end through lack of proper means for 
its preservation and protection. 

From these lessons of wanton waste and 
unrestricted operations the people of Alaska 
must learn the necessity for prompt and 
effective measures if their great industry is 
to be preserved. 

This is the most important question be- j| 
fore the Territory today. It will not permit 
of procrastination or temporizing as its 
needs are insistent and demand immediate 
attention. 




Caylord Bros. 

Makers 

Syracuse, N. Y. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 











